Summertime

Outside my window, autumn glows.

Golden sunshine hangs in the air, shadows lay long on the ground. Leaves throw off everyday green and display proud their true beauty. The breeze is crisp, the sky crystal and the apple orchard down the street is turned into amusement park, laden with the bounty of MacIntosh, SweeTango, Honey Crisp and the laughter of children decorated with caramel and grass.

But inside my home? It's summer.

Our family is at a stage of life where everything just flows. My oldest is not yet a teenager, my youngest is no longer a baby. We sleep though the night (mostly). We head to the playground without any extra equipment (save the spare diaper stashed in my purse). We play the same games together, laugh at the same jokes, enjoy each other's company. No one is too old or too young, nothing else intrudes, the innocence covers us all like a blanket.

Fall is a season to harvest, winter a season to endure. In spring, there is more work to be done than hours to do it.

But in summer? Gershwin said it right: In summertime, the livin' is easy.

Summer is a time for enjoying God and others, without reserve and without apology. It's a time for rediscovering the sheer pleasure of simply being alive: waking early or sleeping late, wading lake shores or tenting in rain forests, talking late under starlight or staring silently, for hours, at clouds.

Likewise, the summer of the heart is marked by leisure and pleasure, a kind of holy hedonism. We strive for nothing and yet have everything. We relish abundance without needing to hoard it or feel guilty about it. We heed the counsel that Scripture gives to rich people: don't trust in your wealth, which is so uncertain, but trust in God "who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."

In the summer of the heart, we get that: abundance isn't for trusting in. It's for enjoying.
- Spiritual Rhythm: Being with Jesus Every Season of Your Soul, Mark Buchanan

Corey and I, we've endured much. We've known years of famine, when the ground hardened into stone. We've known a firestorm so devastating, the entire landscape lay charred and smoking. And praise Jesus, we've known the rebirth of spring, when the barren bears new life and everything must be done right now, the plowing, the sowing, the watering, the weeding.

But now? It is summer. I make no apologies for drinking every drop.

Welcome to The Parent 'Hood, a weekly blog round-up of all things parenting. I host this carnival every Monday, along with some of my favorite blogging buddies (FriedOkra, Vita Familiae, To Think is To Create, Joy in this Journey, Lovefeast Table and O My Family). Post your link using the tool below, and your post will show up instantly on all the host blogs. (How cool is that?)

A few bits and pieces:
1. Today’s link-up will run from this morning through next Sunday night. A new link-up will start next Monday morning.
2. Link the unique URL of your parenting post, not the homepage of your blog. Otherwise, your parenting post will get buried under new content on your homepage and be hard to find when readers click through later in the week.
3. We ask that you please include a link somewhere in your post back to The Parent 'Hood, via this post or The Parent 'Hood welcome post on any of the other hosting blogs.
4. If you're on Twitter, hashtag Parent 'Hood posts with #TheParentHood.
5. Feel free to grab the code in the box under the graphic above to share the button love!
6. Share your own posts and read and comment on other blogs. Any good 'hood is all about community, right? Read, comment and enjoy as you have time.